PLAYING with a twice-to-beat advantage, the Tiger Spikers pulverized Adamson University, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17, in the UAAP Men’s Volleyball tournament last February 10 at The Arena in San Juan.
UST was so dominant that it fielded second-stringers as early as the first set and still managed to mow down Adamson.
Despite UST’s string of unforced errors in the third canto, Adamson fell back because of Henry Pecaña’s back-to-back quick kills. Ray Karl Dimaculangan two service aces of his own.
The opposing squad relied on smooth receptions to convert 24 out of 65 attempts, but the Tigers neutralized this with solid blocks to smother Adamson’s hope for victory.
“We (the coaching staff) are satisfied with the team’s performance today,” coach Lontoc said. “They were relaxed and were having fun as well.”
Veteran John Paul Torres topscored for UST with 12 markers, from 10 attack points and two blocks. The Tiger Spikers now own a 12-1 win-loss slate. Their lone defeat came at the hands of FEU, 23-25, 25-21, 25-27, 20-25. In their previous game, the Tiger Spikers tamed National University (NU), 25-16, 25-12, 25-16, in a walk-in-the-park match last February 7.
Prior to that, they also aged Ateneo de Manila University in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-18, last January 30, three days after a University of the East (UE) demolition, 25-17, 28-26, 25-11.
UST also won against De La Salle University (25-15, 25-19, 25-20), last January 20, and the University of the Philippines (UP), (22-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-22), last January 17. The Tiger Spikers are set to face-off against archrivals FEU this February 14, going into the semi-finals.
“In our game against them (FEU), our aim is to stop their attacks by improving our blocking,” coach Emil Lontoc said. “We will also be working on our floor defense.” Semi-final incentive
In the distaff side, the Lady Spikers duplicate their male counterparts’ performance, dismantling FEU in a 25-17, 25-19, 25-22, straight set victory at The Arena in San Juan last February 7.
The win gave UST a twice-to-beat incentive in the semi-finals after securing the solo second spot in the team standings with an 8-2 win-loss record.
“We are preparing really hard for the game against La Salle. We need the win to boost our morale coming into the semi-finals,” coach Cesael De los Santos said.
From the get-go, UST opened with a variety of offensive plays to build a 9-point advantage, 17-8, bolstered by a service ace from Rhea Dimaculangan and endline kill from Aiza Maizo. The Lady Tamaraws fell back gradually until Tabaquero’s off-the-block hit iced the set, 25-17. Both squads engaged in a neck-and-neck second set with 8-apiece, but Judy Caballejo’s back-to-back kills gave the lead back to UST, 10-8. Cherry Vivas tried to douse UST’s offensive fire with her lone attempts but these were not enough to tame the Lady Spikers. UST ended the set, 23-18.
UST’s complacency at the start of the next set allowed FEU to surge ahead, 3-5. The Lady Spikers regained their composure as Maruja Banaticla fired a kill, followed by an off-the-block from Tabaquero and a pair of service aces from Dimaculangan, 11-8.
An easy drop from Maizo handed the win to UST, 25-22. Veteran Tabaquero topscored for UST with 15 points, 13 from her attacks and two from her blocks, while Vivas led FEU with 16 points. In their previous games, UST subdued NU (27-25, 25-12, 25-14) last February 3; UE (25-18, 25-19, 25-12) last January 30; Adamson (29-27, 25-21, 25-20) last January 23; UP (25-6, 25-14, 16-25, 25-17) last January 20; and Ateneo (25-17, 23-25, 25-11, 25-20) last January 17. With reports from Rose May Y. Cabacang
